-EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is "concerned" by developments over the past week in East Jerusalem and the West Bank "which have increased tensions on the ground and risk undermining current efforts to re-launch peace talks", her spokesperson said.
In a statement released on Friday, the spokesperson said Ashton is "disturbed by recent events in East Jerusalem such as those that tookplace at Orthodox Easter, the unrest in the area of the Haram al Sharif/Temple Mount and thetemporary detention of the Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine on Wednesday."
"It is essential that access to the holy sites in Jerusalem for peaceful worship for all denominations is fully respected," she said.
Israel Police detained the Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammed Hussein, for questioning on Thursday, as an Israeli official said the Muslim cleric was issued a warning and told to lower tensions a day after Muslim worshipers threw rocks and chairs at tourists visiting the hilltop compound that houses the Al Aqsa Mosque.
Israeli authorities also limited access to the holy site to Muslim worshipers a day after the flare-up of violence.
"It is important that those concerned exercise maximum restraint and refrain from any actions which could drive the sides to the conflict further apart," Ashton said.
The EU chief diplomat also expressed concern over reports of the approval of settlement plans for 300 houses at Beit El near Ramallah, in the West Bank.
"The EU has repeatedly declared settlements to be illegal under international law and to constitute an obstacle to peace," she said.
The new homes slated for construction were part of a 2012 agreement according to which settlers peacefully left their homes at the Ulpana outpost — which an Israeli court determined were built on privately owned Palestinian land - in return for new homes to be rebuilt elsewhere.